British surveillance and response at Scapa Flow

Routine welfare or logistics inspections could have exposed the scuttling preparations without becoming an overt insult. Flooding began at 11:20 but drew notice only when ships listed heavily, while most of the guarding squadron was away exercising. Fremantle did not receive the news until about 12:20 and returned roughly three hours after the operation began. British guards killed nine German personnel and wounded sixteen during attempts to halt the evacuation, after which 1,774 Germans were taken away as prisoners of war. Fifteen capital ships, five light cruisers, and thirty-two destroyers went down. Although Fremantle publicly reprimanded Reuter, he privately expressed sympathy for the position in which the German admiral had been placed.